Time is not the Boss of Me
by MyValentine
Summary: Amy Pond is on her own and flying the TARDIS around the universe, but she has a plan. She isn't going to be alone forever. A sequel to my story "Tick Tock Goes the Clock."


**Time is not the Boss of Me**

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**Author's Note: This is the sequel to my story "Tick Tock Goes the Clock." Quotes in italics are taken directly from the television show. I hope you enjoy, and I'd love to know what you think!**

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"_All that you could wish for and more is through the departure gate provided for you with kindness." –Two Streams Facility Interface_

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**Chapter 1: His Last Kindness**

She often dreams about his death the bright sun the gleaming sand the astronaut rising from the lake. Her body would jerk at each energy blast that hit the Doctor. Sometimes she woke up then. Sometimes she didn't wake up until after she'd replaced the Doctor's body with a pilotless Teselecta.

After one of those dreams she'd pull on a robe, go make tea, and carry it in to the Doctor's chamber. She always thought of it the Doctor's chamber. His room was the one she now slept it. His chamber was what held his dead body. Some nights she'd just sit there and drink her tea. Other nights she told him stories or asked questions he could no longer answer. Tonight she closed her eyes and remembered his final message to her.

She'd taken his body back to the TARDIS and put it in the stasis chamber and then reluctantly left him to go to the control room. She remembered seeing the Teselecta duplicate lying on the floor, wrenching her eyes away, and walking up to the console. Laying her hand on the heart of the TARDIS she whispered, "he said you had a message for me." The TARDIS showed her the Doctor, and he spoke his message directly into her mind.

She was different he said. The crack in her wall, her experiences with different time streams, and being in stasis for so long had changed her. She wouldn't age like a normal human. He wasn't sure she'd age at all. He left her a subdermal perception filter that would make her to appear to age normally. He said she could use it to have a life with Rory.

It hadn't been just a message. It was a choice, but she didn't know that until it was too late. Injecting the filter also erased her memory of replacing the Doctor and of his message to her. He thought she'd be better this way. He wanted her to live that normal human life he'd both longed for and despised. He thought it was a kindness.

She wondered what he thought she would do once Rory was gone. He'd said she might remember his message she might not. What did he think she was going to do with the rest of her (apparently very long) life? For a genius the Doctor could be surprisingly stupid.

The last thing she'd done before she injected herself with the perception filter was to ask, no beg the TARDIS to keep the Doctor's body and to wait for her. She promised that she would find them. She'd kept her promise.

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"_I grew up." – Amy_

"_Don't worry. I'll soon fix that." – The Doctor_

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She was buried in the TARDIS's console when the phone rang. She banged her head and muttered something impolite. The answerphone could record it. She was busy. How in space had the dematerialisation circuit gotten connected to the tachyon diverter? She was sure they'd been uncoupled when she had modified the chameleon circuit. She banged her head again when she heard River's voice leaving a message.

She managed to disentangle herself from the TARDIS before River hung up, and picked up the phone only slightly breathless.

"River! How are things?"

"Amy, you have some explaining to do."

Amy gulped. "Where and when are you?"

"Same place as you left us two weeks three days and two hours later."

Amy hung up and glanced longingly at the mess she'd been trying to fix. "Sorry old girl. I'll have to come back to it later."

When she stepped out of the TARDIS she saw River, pacing. That probably wasn't good. The look on her face definitely wasn't good.

Amy smiled a bit nervously. "You going to tell me what I did? Or didn't do." She added.

River rolled her eyes, combined with her new young face it reminded Amy forcibly of a teenager trying to explain to her parents why they weren't cool. Amy held back a snicker.

"Amy, how old are you?"

"Older than the last time I saw you."

"That is not an answer and you know it."

"Tell me why you want to know first."

"I finally finished going through all the data you gave me from the Silence. I saved the one about dad's, I mean Rory's death for last.

Amy interrupted. "He loved it when you called him dad."

River's face loses a little of its tenseness and she continues. "That day at the hospital was in the year 2056, forty-five years after the Doctor's death. You were sixty-seven! You looked sixty-seven. But now you don't look a day older than twenty-five." River crossed her arms over her chest. "Explain."

Amy told her, mostly. She left out her anger at the Doctor for making her forget. She left out the pain of realizing he was dead for the second time. She left out the shouting she did at his still form.

Once River gets over the shock she smiles at her. "This means you're going to be around a while. I won't have to watch you die after a measly eighty years or so."

Amy laughs. "You can't get rid of me. Speaking of age you do realize that you are very young by Time Lord standards, right?"

River shrugged, "I never really thought about it."

"I don't think they would have considered you to be more than a teenager. Enjoy it. Make this into whatever childhood you can."

They go back to River and Lucy's house, and Amy stays for supper. They talk about the data Amy left River, about the memories that are coming back to the surface for her, Lucy shows Amy the painting she is working on, and finally they fall into companionable silence. A fire crackles in the hearth and wind sighs gently through the trees outside.

Amy suddenly pops of the couch and exclaims, "your presents! Have you figured them out yet?"

River rolled her eyes again. "What's there to figure out?"

"Go get them and I'll show you." Amy is bouncing on the tips of her toes now. She knew they would love this.

Lucy lifts hers out from under the high neckline of her blouse and hands it to Amy. River sighs and slouches up the stairs to get hers. As soon as she is out of earshot Lucy turned to Amy.

"I think she finally feels safe enough to stop acting like a hardened adult. It's been wonderful." Amy smiled and embraced her.

When River came back down the stairs she handed a necklace to Amy. It was a large oval stone nearly the size of a chicken egg but only about half a centimeter in width hanging from a chain that looked like glowing platinum. The stone was dark with silver and gold flecks that caught the light.

"So who wants to go first?"

"Depends on what I have to do," said River.

Amy handed her necklace back to her. "All you have to do is gently rub the stone and then toss it in the air."

River did as instructed and gasped when the house disappeared around them. They were standing in the midst of stars. River let out a delighted laugh.

"It's a star map! You can move it with your hands." Amy grabbed River's hands to demonstrate. "Or with your mind if you have enough psychic ability. The stones are individually keyed to you; only you can control your map."

Lucy stepped out from behind a constellation. "It's like standing in eternity. I've never seen anything so beautiful."

Amy smiled, delighted with the reception her gift was getting. "River, just clap your hands to close the map, and then Lucy can try hers out!"

River clapped her hands and plucked her necklace out of the air where it was hovering. The three women spent the next couple of hours playing with the star maps before Amy reluctantly said her goodbyes. It wasn't until after she left that River realized Amy had never actually answered the 'how old are you' question.

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**I don't own any part of Doctor Who.**


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